Today CIDE (my program) took us for an excursion to Gernika and Mundaka, which are small towns about an hour away from Bilbao. Gernika has a TON of history behind the beautiful town. Our first stop was a museum called Museo de la Paz to learn about all the rich history that once occurred on the same streets we were walking. The museum focused on the day of April 26, 1937, often referred to as the Bombing of Gernika by Nazi Germany during the Spanish Civil War. Over 1,500 civilians were killed in the bombings and in order to commemorate the horror they went through, Picasso painted his very famous Gernika painting. One of the rooms in the museum simulated April 26, 1937 by mimicking a typical living room and playing the recording of a woman speaking as if writing in her diary. From outside you heard sirens and explosions, the lights went out, and half the house turned into rubble. It was intense but powerful. Once you exit the room there is an exhibit that has army uniforms, rubble in the ground, and plenty of information panels. Since Gernika is such a small town and doesn't get many tourists, about 90% of the museum is in Basque and Spanish but they have an English translated booklet you can use. In order to get the best experience out of this museum you must be ready to read, and read a lot. Yes they have videos and images but most of the history is conveyed through paragraphs and paragraphs of text. Unfortunately, we were really rushed and I only had enough time to get the gist of the information. After the museum we visited la Casa de Juntas, la Iglesia de Santa Maria and al reugio antiaéreo. All the places were beautiful and we were lucky enough to have a wonderful tour guide who gave us a behind the scenes experience. Specifically, the Saint Mary Church had a secret passage way above the altar that we explored! It was really awesome! She also let us go in the bombing shelter and gave us a sense of what it was like to be alive on that day. By the time we ended our tour of Gernika we were all starving, luckily for us lunch was the next part of our schedule. We went to a restaurant called Zallo Barri and it was awesome! We had a giant table, enough to seat 45 people and as soon as we walked in we were treated with water and bread. Our first plate was a typical Basque bean soup. I totally forgot the name but it was alright considering I'm not a huge fan of beans. Then we had beef with french fries and cheesecake for dessert. All the food was great but the cheesecake was amazing. Now, before you think of New York cheesecake stop that because this is more of a French style cheesecake, it was very light and creamy. DELICIOUS. I wish I could eat it everyday. After lunch we took a 30 min ride to Mundaka, a very tiny but beautiful coastal city. We had about an hour of free time there to explore the coast, the town and a small church. Right by the church, I found a staircase that lets you go down to the rocks by the sea. I ran down, climbed up on a few rocks and was so satisfied just sitting there. I really wanted to go down further to the end of the rocks and be like Ariel from Little Mermaid. That didn't happen because when I went down there with some other kids the tide started to pick up and reach us. Everyone else's shoes got wet but I jumped on another rock just in time. Of course, this all happened while I was trying to take a panoramic picture and you can just see the excitement! Sitting on the rocks by the coast made me realize that I need to live in a coastal city. Just to be able to sit by the sea and hear the waves crash against rocks is so relaxing! We got back to Bilbao at around 7:30pm and I made my way to the library to print out our bus tickets for San Sebastián. Figuring out how to print itself was a hassle but I managed to do it with the help of the librarians. I made my way home, ate and then headed out to meet my family in Casco Viejo for pintxos. After explaining to them how you order, they tried to push through the crowded bar and figure out what they wanted to order. Unfortunately, they were a little short and I ended up asking the bartender for them. We found a place outside and made ourselves comfortable, all while Tia Valerie was desperately trying to get someone to take a picture of us with her camera. As soon as I pulled the camera up on my phone and put my arm up, Robert says, "LET'S TAKE A SELFIE!" I almost died of laughter. It was just too cute. They all ordered the same pintxos and I think I did a pretty good job giving them a nice variety of typical ones. They had a tortilla de patata (with onion), bread with Ibierco ham and peppers, and bread with green onion salad. Of course with the local San Miguel (con limon) and a nice chunk of bread on the side. They loved it! On our way back to my apartment, I showed them different things around the Abando neighborhood and made plans to meet up to go to San Sebastian on Saturday morning. Now, to catch up on sleep to catch our early bus!
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